Judges: Falling Out With the Fifth

Back in the era of Senator Joe McCarthy, says
Judge Henry Friendly of the U.S. Court of Appeals, the Fifth Amendment
served as a shield for people whose only crime was leftist political
associations. Indeed, says Friendly, the amendment's main purpose was
to give the protective privilege of silence to those persecuted for
heresy, nonconformity and political crimes. "This is the privilege we
love," says Friendly.

Love is now dying between the judge and the amendment. During the 1960s,
he argues, it has served to protect murderers, rapists and bagmen. It
has worked to prevent police from getting the information...